brogues, two inches in the sole, and a broad-brimmed hat, completed the exterior of the elegant Hugh Peters. The system pursued by his parents produced an effect diametrically opposite to their intention. It turned the boy's regard to the subject of dress, and generated and fostered the desire of decoration. He ventured, as he grew older, though with a trembling hand, to make some slight reform in his costume. He disfranchised his enormous coatflaps, and succeeded in cancelling a few sinecure pockets. This he managed by cultivating a good understanding with his tailor. But all his efforts were fruitless, to oblige his corduroy breeches to vacate their seat, or to prevent the annual return of the broad-brimmed beaver to the presidency of his pericranium. He managed, however, to procure a pair of buff leather-gaiters as a counterbalance to the corrupt influence of the one, and in some degree to alter the constitution of the other, by cocking it up at the sides with black pins; a measure, which would have rendered him a prime favourite at the Court of St. Petersburgh, when Paul, the hater of round hats, was autocrat of all the Russias. It is not to be imagined that even these changes were effected without considerable opposition: in fact, they gave birth to continual explosions of present wrath, and fulminations of wrath to come, on the part of his father. His mother, too, added her mite of zeal in predicting the eventual perdition of her only son; for who, as she acutely remarked, could escape hell-fire, that wore a cocked hat and sulphurcoloured gaiters? But Hugh had arrived at that age and stature where flagellation ceases to be practicable, and exhortation to be efficient. His parents could not succeed "with wind Of airy threats to awe, whom now with deeds Their only resource was to deprive him altogether of money; and though this could not wither his dandyism in the bud, it yet checked its growth for a season, and imparted to it a stunted character of original and ludicrous peculiarity. Necessity is the mother of invention, and some of Hugh's devices at this period to put off the clown and put on the dandy were sufficiently ingenious, though often productive of ridiculous results. He turned tailor in his own defence, but his earlier attempts to modify his habiliments, were, like the infant efforts of every art, rude and clumsy to a degree. He reduced the latitude of his skirts without any very strict observance of mathematical proportion, and finished his work with no particular neatness of stitching. The partial alterations in his dress, harmonized very ill with its general character, and often exhibited the most ridiculous contrasts. The flaming gaiters, for instance, were not well assorted with the clumsy shoes and corduroy-breeches deeply bronzed by the relentless finger of time. The tail of his coat, cropped short by his rash hand in evil hour, gave to the otherwise too ample garment, something of the look of a fireman's jacket destitute of the badge and made by a most ill-conditioned tailor. A red waistcoat, second-hand, trimmed with old fur, and, in the fashion of the day, ridiculously short, which he purchased of an honest Israelite, seemed within the prodigious lappels of his external habit, like a flea in St. Paul's, or Gulliver in the embraces of Glumdalclitch. His neck enveloped in muslin manifold, rose above his humble collar, "like the tower of Lebanon which looketh towards Damascus." But an invention which he hit on, for the decoration of his nether limbs, was indeed a chef-d'œuvre. Entertaining a high opinion of the symmetry of this part of his person, he longed to reveal its graceful proportions in the seductive transparencies of stocking-web. His uncle, who was something of a dandy, gave him an opportunity of gratifying this penchant by the present of a pair of cast-off tights. These, though somewhat large, Hugh contrived, by his sartorial dexterity, to adapt tolerably well to his own person. But on trying them on, though highly gratified by the contemplation of the femur and tibia, he found that something was still wanting to the perfection of their developement. Our desires increase with our possessions, and every new gratification gives birth to a fresh necessity. Hugh soon discovered that tight pantaloons without Hessian boots were as preposterous as a haunch of venison without currant-jelly, or a leg of pork without peas-pudding. They were, in truth, natural correlatives, coefficient quantities, mutually attractive, conductors to each other, their separation was violent, dangerous, improper, sacrilegious! But how to effect the desired union? Boots were dear, Hugh was poor; his uncle had no Hessians to spare, and his father's heart and purse were equally closed against him. He must either wear the pantaloons without boots (a thing not to be thought of) or steal a pair. Dire dilemma! diabolical alternative! But the genius of dandyism descended kindly to his aid, and opportunely rescued her ardent votary from the hazard of crime and the mortification of disappointment. As Hugh cast around "His baleful eyes, That witness'd huge affliction and dismay," he suddenly espied his buff-leather gaiters, which hung upon a peg above his head. An idea flashed across his brain like lightning-one of those felicitous conceptions of genius, perfect as if matured by years of thought, sudden as inspiration! He seized the gaiters, posted to a cobler, had them cut out into the shape of Hessian boots at top, blackened, polished, decked with tassels. What need of more words? Nothing could be more complete. The following day was Sunday. He appeared at church in complete costume,-cocked chapeau, pudding-cravat, red waistcoat, fireman's jacket, brown-coloured tights, and gaiter-boots, the admiration of himself—the derision of manythe astonishment of all! But the hour was at hand when Hugh was to cast his slough, to unfold his glittering scales in the sunbeam, to burst the dark prison of his chrysalis for ever, and issue forth an airy butterfly in all the colours of the rainbow. His father, who was much more sincerely devoted to Mammon than to God, undertook a voyage to Smyrna in quest of gain. The prince of air, who thought it high time to appropriate his destined prey, raised a storm and plunged the Methodistic merchant in the deep. Hugh was sole heir of all his wealth, which was considerable, and as the trustees of the property did not pretend to 2 N VOL. VIII. NO. XXXVI. any control over his conduct, this hopeful youth was left at the age of seventeen "Lord of himself, that heritage of woe." His first step was to enter the army, a measure of which he would not have dared to whisper during the lifetime of his father. He got into a dashing regiment of light infantry, and soon became distinguished for the most extravagant foppery. Not contented with the costume of his corps, which was elegant and splendid, he was perpetually making such alterations and additions as his own whim suggested. His capricious taste in this way subjected him to frequent reprimands and arrests for the violation of the regimental orders. His offences became at last so frequent and so flagrant, that the colonel, much of a martinet, told him that he must leave the regiment unless he thought proper to conform to its regulations of dress. Hugh promised obedience, and for a while was less open in his transgressions. But his ruling passion was too strong to be controlled for any length of time. He went to a garrison-ball in a fantastic costume which bore a caricatured resemblance to the uniform of his corps. The first person he met there was the colonel, who insisted on his leaving the room immediately; and as colonels seldom experience much difficulty in the removal of an obnoxious subaltern, his exit from the regiment very speedily followed his exit from the ball. He was, in fact, advised to tender his resignation; and he had too much knowledge of the army not to feel the propriety of following this judicious counsel. Hugh was not very seriously concerned for the loss of his commission, as it left him "fancy free" to pursue his devious courses through the fields of foppery and fashion. He repaired to London, and soon became the very mirror of fantastic coxcombry. He had his day like other dogs, and the time has been when the promenades of Bond-street and Hyde-park would have been deemed to want their most essential attraction in the absence of "the original Hugh Peters." But, alas for human eminence, and the degeneracy of present times! The "lights of the world and demigods of fame" have quitted the stage for ever, and the fashionable, like the political horizon, is left in a feeble twilight, the precursor, it is to be feared, of a long night of Egyptian darkness. Brummel is extinct, Van Butchell in his grave. Sir L-, like another Ovid in Pontus, is exiled to the ungenial climate of St. George's, where he pours his unavailing "tristia," and stoops indeed, but, alas, no more to conquer! Baron Geramb is gone, and the gallant gay "Lothario" is sobered down into "Benedick, the married man." We listen in vain for the rattling of his chariot-wheels, and the highcrested cock has now become an empty name. Finally, Hugh Peters himself hath passed away, and the flags of Bond-street have forgot his steps! Hugh was, at this time, more remarkable for the singularity than the taste of his costume. He delighted in glaring colours, and a close fit he considered the "summum bonum." His motions were dreadfully constrained by the tightness of his dress, and the various organic functions seriously impeded. To button his coat required an effort almost superhuman. His inexpressibles (horresco referens) were perpetually yielding to the force of pressure, and leaving him exposed in some vital part. The tarsus, metatarsus, and toes, sustained infinite damage from the compressive action of the boot, and the uncomfortable pro jection of a heel three inches high. His feet became pleasingly variegated with corns and bunnions, and were soon reduced to a state of premature superannuation. I shall not speedily forget the first time I had the honour of beholding Hugh Peters. He was in full dress for the pit of the Opera. His coat was of the genuine Pomona-green, with a collar reaching to the crown of his head, basket-worked buttons made of silver, and skirts lined with white silk. His waistcoat was white, richly embroidered, and studded with three rows of small yellow buttons. Inside this were two more, cushioned and quilted, the one of scarlet silk, the other of sky-blue. Canary-coloured small-clothes, with flesh-coloured silkstockings, decorated his nether limbs; and a pump, which might emulate a vice, with a diamond buckle, showed his almost Chinese foot to exquisite advantage. His cravat, which at the least he took an hour to adjust, was fastened in the centre with a large emerald, and beneath it a waving banner of frill sported in the wanton zephyrs. A gold eyeglass with a red riband, white kid-gloves, and inordinate chapeaubras-the portrait is finished. Hitherto Hugh had given more attention to his person than his face; and, coxcomb as he was, he had still much to learn in the minuter details of dandyism. Critically nice in the cut and fashion of his apparel, he was but a novice in the mysteries of the cosmetic art, his practice in this way scarcely extending beyond the more ordinary processes of ablution. He had, besides, certain prepossessions to overcome on this score. Notwithstanding the latitude of his foppery, he conceived that there was a fixed boundary beyond which it must not extend, and where manliness would say, "thus far shalt thou go and no farther." He would wear, for instance, a coat tight enough almost to check respiration, but would shudder at the thought of a pair of stays. He might employ an hour in brushing his hair, but he would turn with loathing from the idea of painting his face. But it is the character of every folly, and of every vice, to increase, unless the growth be timely and effectually prevented. The incipient gangrene must be met with the knife and the cautery. Hugh's attention was first directed to his visage by some one remarking that his eyebrows were rather light. There could be nothing unmanly in adding to the expression of the countenance, to which dark eyebrows so materially contributed. He began first by pencilling, next proceeded to painting, and lastly to staining his brows, with a variety of deleterious composts. He became the dupe of advertising impostors, and the most absurd distresses were the frequent result of his ill-judged experiments. In the course of a few months his brows had successively assumed all the colours of the rainbow, to the vast amusement of his friends, and his own ineffable inconvenience. He persevered, however, with a constancy worthy of a better cause, and at last hit upon a composition which produced the proper hue; but after a few applications utterly destroyed the hair, and left him literally browless! His only resource was a pair of artificial eyebrows, which formed, as may be supposed, but an imperfect deception, and an insecure substitute for the natural. Hugh's next discovery was, that a smooth skin and clear complexion were essentials of beauty. His toilet was soon loaded with cold cream, milk of roses, botanic bloom, eau de Cologne, and soaps of all sono rous titles borrowed from " the rich orient," and of a variety of shades of colour and degrees of fragrance. His hands now came in for their share of attention, and he consumed immense quantities of almond paste and white wax. Not satisfied with topical applications for the purpose of improving his appearance, he used warm baths, had himself blooded and physicked regularly with the same view. He consumed three estates, which he inherited, in the expenses of the toilet. When destitute of money, he ran in debt to gratify his vanity; and for some years previous to his death he supported his elegant appearance by certain financial measures, to which, peradventure, a fastidious moralist might attach an impolite epithet. Confined in the Bench, he used to saunter about, in a rich robe de chambre, green velvet-cap, and red slippers, with an immense Turkish pipe in his mouth, from which he exhaled not "Mundungus' ill-perfuming scents," but green tea! He debilitated his frame by the use of medicine, and contracted complaints in his side and chest from continual pressure. Dandyism is in youth only ridiculous; in age it is contemptible. We have attempted the portrait of Hugh in his earlier days. At fifty he was the most artificially constructed being in existence; he was made up from head to foot. He wore a wig, false eyebrows, false whiskers, and false mustachios. He had a complete set of false teeth, his cheeks and lips were painted, and the furrows beneath his eyes were filled up with a white paste. His clothes were stuffed out at the chest and shoulders, his waist was tightened in with stays, and he had false calves to his legs. He was altogether a walking deception-a complete lie from top to toe-a finished specimen of that most despicable of all animals-the superannuated dandy. II. THE SLEEPER ON MARATHON. I LAY upon the solemn plain, Where those who died not there in vain, 'Twas silent where the free blood gush'd, So many a voice had there been hush'd, 1 slumber'd on the lonely spot, I slumber'd-but my rest was not As theirs who lay beneath. For on my dreams, that shadowy hour, They rose-the chainless Dead All arm'd they sprung, in joy, in power, I saw their spears, on that red field, Chased to the seas, without his shield, I woke the sudden trumpet's blast : From visions of our glorious past, F. H. |